Will Job’s faithfulness to God survive terrible suffering? Satan doesn’t think so. Surely Job only worships God because of the blessings of family, wealth and health he’s received? It’s not just an accusation against the genuineness of Job’...

There’s no comfort in the words of Job’s friends, who insist on seeing his suffering as a sign of his guilt. Neither defending himself nor staying silent alleviate his situation. It does seem like God is his enemy.

It should be party time. We’ve journeyed with Abraham and Sarah through the rough path of infertility, seemingly unfulfilled promises and a very long wait -- by anyone’s standards. But after 25 years, Isaac is now born! God has fulfilled his prom...

If there’s anything you’ve picked up in the story of Abraham, it’s likely to be the significance of his role as a father of great nations, and that of his son Isaac through which this promise will come to pass. You don’t need me to tell you h...

Today we say goodbye to Sarah, with whom you've perhaps had a rollercoaster relationship as you've read the text. We've seen her good moments and her bad moments. She's a very human person caught up here in the purposes of God. A...

Tension is building as the scene is set: Abraham is old, God has blessed him and he's wrapping things up. He’s about to complete his final act: finding a wife for his son and thereby securing his family line. The formality of the agreement be...

There are a few surprises in today’s reading – if not to us, who may be very familiar with it, then certainly to its characters, and its first hearers.

As famine pushes Isaac out of the land he loved, we head into two mini-narratives that feel strangely familiar. The first is the promise of God to Isaac. Isaac hears God for himself, receiving a similar promise to that of his father – an assurance ...

If you've tracked the stories and reflections this week, you might share my amazement at how often things go wrong as God's will is brought about. The human side of things is messy! Echoes of Genesis 3 are evident in this chapter as with th...